Chronicle
by RiverDapple
Summary: A CHRONICLE OF LAURA HOLLMAN AND HER LIFE DURING HER FOURTH YEAR AT HOGWARTS - Laura Hollman OC is at Hogwarts for her fourth year. Many interesting things happen to her. They are chronicled here.


This is the new fanfiction that I have started. It was inspired by the sudden RP that exploded all over twitter at ten o'clock on the 1st September 2012.

Laura Hollman is my OC.

Next Gen.

It was originally just going to be a really, really long oneshot but as I wrote I was struck with more and more ideas about Laura and her history and her future and I decided that I will probably write more about her in the future.

Yeah.

DISCLAIMER: JKR owns everything except the characters in the compartment, Thad and Laura's friends

* * *

A CHRONICLE OF LAURA HOLLMAN AND HER LIFE DURING HER FOURTH YEAR AT HOGWARTS:

Part One:

_Train_

"Ugh, where are they?" I glanced over my shoulder as I wove between the throngs. "They totally said they'd meet me underneath the sign!"

Having arrived on the platform ten minutes earlier, I discovered that about 100 other people had had the same idea - and my friends were nowhere to be found. My hand slid into my pocket, fondled the slim phone that was burrowed deep in the creases of the fabric. I could text them...but now we were on the platform, they had probably turned their phones off. Still, I could try. I stopped and backed up against the platform wall, digging my phone out of my pocket. My cat yowled at something random as I unlocked it and clocked over to my messages.

New message: Lil, Jose, Holz

Message: Hey where are you guys?!

The train whistle blew as the sent logo popped up.

"Oh damn," There was a rush for the train. I paused for a second and exchanged glances with my cat. He gave me a somewhat appraising look, as if to say 'You know what you have to do'.

"No need to rub it in," I said to him as I readjusted my satchel over my shoulder and bent down pick the handle of my trunk up off the ground. Motley yelped in horror as he thought his cage would slip off the back off the trunk.

"Calm your farm, boy," I picked up his cage in my other hand and he calmed down. "This is probably going to be stressful enough with you making enough racket to turn a girl deaf, so shut up, okay?" I told him in an undertone. It was time to board the train, and as my friends were nowhere to be seen, I would be boarding alone. I would probably end up having to find a compartment with randoms.

Oh God.

"Sorry!" A tall boy cried as he crashed into me on his way to a group of friends.

"Excuse me," whispered a first year, trying and somewhat failing to weave through the crowds.

"Has anybody seen Hercules?" A butch girl bellowed, searching high and low for whichever pet she'd lost. I stepped up onto the train, twisting slightly to get my trunk in. A helpful porter dashed over and hooked his hand underneath it, shoving it over the threshold for me.

"Thank you," I smiled and he nodded.

"Your'e welcome, miss,"

The train was even more chaotic than the platform. I smiled. I had missed this.

A summer of muggle technology and beaches - although enjoyable - wasn't a patch on the wizarding world.

A prefect I recognised from my own house was striding down the corridor, looking harried.

"Hey, Lucy!" I called, hurrying to catch up to her. She stopped and looked around confusedly. With each motion of her head, her curls bounced about on her shoulder.

"It's me, Laura!"

"Oh hey!" At last her eyes lit on me. "Good to see you!" Cue the awkward hug where we each tried to reach around my trunk, cat carrier and satchel and only half succeeded. "How are you?"

"I'm great - but have you seen Lil, Josie or Holly anywhere? We were supposed to meet up but I can't find them!"

"Uh..." Lucy bit her lip. "No, I haven't, sorry Laura. But look, there's a compartment with a spare seat over there. You'll need to find a seat, the train's about to leave!"

"Alright. Well it was nice to see you again!"

"You too. See you when we get to school," Lucy set off striding again, creating a path ahead of her based on sheer stature. She was very tall, was Lucy.

I sighed. I've never been a person to enjoy meeting new people, but it looked like just this once I would have to. I probably knew them anyway - this would be my fourth year at Hogwarts. With trepidation, I wove my way to the compartment that Lucy had indicated. The door was open. I stood there for a moment, watching.

As I expected, I did know a few people. A fellow fourth year Ravenclaw called Rosie was standing precariously on her seat, rootling in her trunk for something. A group of about three people were crammed into one corner. I only recognised one of them - Crystal, a sixth year Ravenclaw. There were a few other people milling around. I accidentally caught the eye of one of them.

"Hey, can I help you?" She seemed nice. Friendly. She was quite short, with long straight red hair and half-rimmed purple glasses.

"Um, yeah...Lucy told me you had a spare seat in here..." I trailed off nervously. Judging from the amount of people in there, they didn't actually have a spare seat.

The girl looked around the compartment.

"Yeah I think we have one spare," she said to my surprise. "Some of these guys aren't actually travelling in our compartment,"

"Oh, okay..." I took a step inside. "I'm Laura, by the way,"

"Anna," as soon as the name had left her lips, the whistle blew long and loud.

"Oh shit," one of the girls said. She had been wedged deep into the corner and I hadn't noticed her at first. She was very pale, with a map of badly cut but oddly artistic looking black hair draped over one eye. She had a lip piercing, and was wearing bright purple lipstick.

"See you!" a guy who had been standing next to her said. He turned to leave, and our eyes met.

I'd never noticed him before around the school - his hair was black too, although I could tell it was artificial by the thin line of light brown regrowth at the very base. He had large brown eyes and an understated ring at the far corner of his left eyebrow. He was hot. He smiled at me on his way out of the door.

"Quick," Anna said, grabbing one end of my trunk. "We need to chuck it up there!"

"Oh yeah!" I started to my senses, and helped her heft it up. Motley went under the seat. I crouched down in front of him.

"Sleep little kitty," I said softly, sticking my finger in through the mesh and patting the top of his head. He mewed slightly before lying down.

Magical cats were so much smarter than muggle cats, they really were. I stood up again as the train jerked violently and began to move. Anna, Destiny, Crystal and a random guy lolled out of our window, waving at their families. I just sat down.

"Your parents didn't come to see you off either?" The girl with the lip piercing asked.

I frown-pouted and shook my head. "Nah, they have better things to do with their time than wave their daughter off to school,"

She nodded. "Same. I'm Amortentia."

"Laura," By the time our exchange was over, we had rounded a corner. The other four came away from the window and sat down.

"I think some introductions are in order," Crystal said, twirling a strand of fine brown hair around her finger. "I'm Crystal. Ravenclaw, 6th year,"

"Anna, Gryffindor. Seventh,"

"I'm Destiny. I'm a Ravenclaw and in my fourth year,"

"Uh, I'm Laura and I am also a fourth year Ravenclaw,"

The guy was next. He was nondescript looking - wavy brown hair and blue eyes, tall and stringy with lots of freckles. "Hi, I'm Trent and I'm in Hufflepuff. I'm 15,"

"Amortentia - I go by my name in full. I'm in Slytherin," That was all she had to offer. As soon as she'd finished speaking she withdrew a journal type book from a small bag at her feet and started writing. Or possibly she was drawing. I couldn't really tell.

Conversation exploded all around me. I felt awkward. Even though, clearly, most of the people in this compartment didn't really know each other, they were all less socially awkward than I was. For lack of anything better to do, I checked my phone.

No messages - it seems my friends had turned their phones off after all. Feeling eyes watching me, I looked up. Crystal was staring at me.

"What is that?"

"Cellphone. It's a ... muggle thing," Self-consciously, I switched it off.

"Why do you have muggle technology? Are you muggle born?"

"Um, nah. Half-blood. Dad's like never home though, so my mother the muggle is pretty much free to bring me up as muggle as she likes,"

"Fair enough," Crystal shrugged. "I just don't see the point of muggle technology, though, Magic makes things so much easier.

"Uh, I dunno," I shrugged. "I just count myself as lucky, having the best of both worlds,"

"That's a good way to think of it,"

"Would anybody like a sugar quill?" Trent called above the noise of the chatter.

"Me!" Destiny and Anna both yelled at the same time. I watched, smiling slightly at the reactions they shared at being handed the sugary candy.

"Would you like one, too?" Trent was staring at me, holding out the packet.

"Um, okay," Tentatively, I reached into the packet and took one. "Thanks,"

"You're welcome," Trent grinned at me and then offered the packet to Amortentia. To my surprise, she took one.

"Is that your cat?" Anna asked, nodding at Motley.

"Um," I brushed a strand of hair off my face awkwardly. "Yeah, he's mine."

"Does he eat owls?"

"Nah," I laughed. "He's too lazy."

"So I could let my owl out to fly around?"

"Sure - but wouldn't your owl rather fly around outside?"

Anna shrugged. "It's up to him, really."

She turned and knelt on her seat, reaching up to open the door to a cage I hadn't noticed until now.

"Come on, Barnacles," she soothed. I tried to resist snickering at the name - not so much because it was hilarious, but just because it was a pretty cute name for an owl. A smooth tawny hopped out of the cage onto Anna's wrist. Everyone kind of fell silent as she closed the cage, hopped down and opened the window.

The owl hooted once and then took off outside into the slipstream.

"Anything off the trolley?" the trolley lady asked, sliding open the door to our compartment and sticking hr head in. It was about an hour later, and I'd been thinking for hours about how hungry I was.

"Yeah!" I leaped up first, scuttling out. Trent laughed at my enthusiasm. I perused what was on offer, at last purchasing two packets of fizzing whizzbees, a bottle of pumpkin juice and a handful of cauldron cakes. I handed her my change, and went to sit down again.

"So I reckon we should all meet up for a butterbeer, next Hogsmeade weekend," Crystal was saying. I kept quiet as I bit into my cauldron cake.

"I'm keen," Destiny said, and Anna seconded.

"How about you, Laura?"

"Well," I swallowed my mouthful of cake. "I'm more of a casual firewhiskey girl myself, but I'd never turn down a butterbeer,"

"Aren't you a little young to be drinking?" Crystal raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow. I shrugged awkwardly.

"It's not like firewhiskey is hardcore alcohol..."

"Just kidding," Crystal laughed. "I love a bit of firewhiskey... in the right situations of course,"

"But you can't always guarantee what the right situation is," Anna said seriously. "Flying while intoxicated is a major problem..."

At her words, memories flashed unbidden across my mind.

A broken bottle of brandy, smashed and leaking on the bare wooden floor. Blood dripping from palms cut with glass. Fierce whispering in the night as I lay in the dark trying to block it all out...

Something dug into my thigh. I looked down. tucked beside was a small shot bottle of firewhiskey. No one else in the compartment had noticed it. I glanced beside me. Amortentia was lost in her writing/drawing, but she was smiling.

"Thanks," I said quietly. Casually, I unscrewed my pumpkin juice and took a sip. When no one was looking, I emptied the firewhiskey into it.

I took another sip. There was more bite to the pumpkin juice now, more fire. Much nicer.

"I don't know anyone who's been killed flying drunk though," Crystal was saying. I tuned back in to their conversation. "They seem like ghost statistics,"

"I agree - I don't know anyone, either..."

"I do," as soon as I said it, I wanted to pull the words back. Sometimes, I just didn't think before I spoke.

"Oh?" Destiny asked. She couldn't hide the curiosity in her voice.

"Yeah," I swallowed. Things had suddenly gotten awkwardly quiet. "Um, my aunt and uncle. They were flying cross country to visit us. Uncle Roy was a big fan of brandy... overshot our house by the entire length of the channel miles and went into the cliffs."

Ringing silence.

"I was like five so I don't really remember... er, much."

"Do you live near Dover?" Anna asked, cocking her head to one side.

"Well at that point we were living in Dunkirk..."

"Jesus fucking Christ," Amortentia broke the silence. "That is fucking intense,"

her attitude was a nice improvement. Usually everyone reacts awkwardly - a strange cross between sadness and pity. They never tell me what they really think. Amortentia was a nice change, straight up. I had to laugh.

"I know right?"

"But if you were living in France, why aren't you at that prissy French school? Boolattice or whatever it's called?"

"Beauxbatons," Crystal corrected.

"Yeah that,"

"Well I was born in London," I said. "And after the, er, accident, we moved back across the channel to Salisbury,"

"Good," Trent said. "No one wants to go to that snobby place,"

Everyone laughed, Amortentia and I included.

"Okay though, seriously," he said. "How did you get boolattice out of Beauxbatons?"

"I have no idea," Amortentia said, and we were off again.

At that moment, the compartment door slid open. It was the hot guy from earlier.

"Hey guys," he drawled. He had a nice voice - deep and slow. He was probably way too old for me. "So we're having a party in the big compartment...you guys wanna join?"

"Depends on the kind of party," Destiny said from around a mouthful of chocolate frog.

"Well let's see... someone brought a portable stereo. We have The Dementors blaring..."

"The...who?" Destiny asked.

"The Dementors," I answered. I was surprised a guy like this would listen to a band like that. "Kind of underground, American indie rock/ grunge band. Awesome shit,"

"Oh," Destiny looked surprised. "I would have thought you would be more into metal..oh oops," she blushed. "Sorry. Stereotyping!"

The guy laughed. "Oh don't get me wrong, I'm into that shit too. Free butterbeer and pumpkin pasties..."

"If there are brandy snaps, I'm coming," Amortentia had already tucked her journal away. The guy winked at her.

"Of course there are,"

"Then I'm in,"

"I'll pass," Crystal said, and Anna and Trent did too. Destiny said she was game for a party.

"How about you?" The guy was looking at me. His stare was intense - not in the bad way, just in the 'holy hell I feel like he can read my thoughts' kind of way.

"Uh..." why was I so awkward? "Um..."

"She'll come," Amortentia said for me, pulling me up off my seat. "I can tell she's a party girl at heart!"

I couldn't even respond to that one.

Waving goodbye to Anna, Crystal and Trent, we followed the guy down the corridor, through several carriages. We didn't talk but it was a comfortable silence. As we walked, I looked out the window. We were still travelling through farmland - in the distance a town sat nestled between two hills. It was very picturesque.

Suddenly I was aware of music. It wasn't obnoxiously loud, but it was loud enough.

"Welcome to the party carriage," the guy - whose name I still didn't know - said, as he opened the boor.

There were easily fifty people in there, just standing around, dancing and sitting chatting.

As much as I love parties, I tended to go to them at night. The last party I had been to was a night time rendezvous with some muggle friends in a field. Most of them had gotten drunk. The last wizarding party I'd been too was in one of the old secret passages that led between the third flour and the fourth - everyone knew about it, but with silencing spells, no one knew about the party but those invited. This party was kind of different.

Straight away, Amortentia was sucked away into a throng of Slytherins. I stood awkwardly at the door, trying to stop my knees from bobbing to the beat. I felt very out of place, with my unruly dark blonde hair, freckles and plain muggle jeans and shirt.

"Your name's Laura, right?" It was the guy again. He'd come back to talk to me. He was holding to bottled of butterbeer, and he offered me one.

"Yeah," I smiled shyly. "But I dunno your name,"

"My name is Thad. Don't ask what it's short for,"

"Well you know saying that just makes me want to ask..."

"You can resist the urge, right?"

"I can try," we smiled at each other, and then simultaneously drank.

"So..." I started, at the same time as he said "Are you..." we stopped, both started again.

I blushed and laughed awkwardly.

"You go," he said.

"Nah, it's fine. You go,"

"Oh God. We'll be trapped in this deadly cycle forever!" I laughed properly this time. He seemed to be just as awkwardly funny as me.

"I was just going to say 'You're in Ravenclaw, right?"

"Yeah I am. I was going to ask what house you were in,"

"Slytherin,"

"Well," I shifted my bottle to my left hand and held out my right. "It's nice to meet you, Thad of Slytherin house." He shook my hand, laughing.

"And it's nice to meet you, Laura or Ravenclaw!"

We stood in companionable silence for a moment, and then Thad was waved over by a bunch of very pretty girls.

"Gotta go," he said, and I felt a twinge of...jealously? Whatever. I'd only just met him.

I drifted over to the food table and nibbled on a piece of cheese like a little mouse. That's what I felt like at that moment - a little mouse awkwardly on the social fringes. If only I could find Lil, Holz and Jose.

As a last ditch effort I decided to switch my phone on again and check for messages. It was booting up when someone said "Muggle technology is not something one often finds on the Hogwarts Express,"

I turned. Teddy Lupin was standing behind me. I watched as he chucked his empty bottle in the bin. Teddy was dating a friend of mine called Lian, so we were on speaking terms. That eradicated the awkward somewhat.

"Yeah," I laughed. "Have you seen Lil, Josie or Holly anywhere?"

"Yeah, actually," Teddy raised his eyebrows. "They're in our compartment. They were complaining about how they couldn't find you on the platform,"

"God," I rolled my eyes. "If only they'd turn their bloody phones on!" Teddy snorted.

"I don't think any of them even bothered bringing their phones with them,"

"Ugh. That would explain it then!"

Brief pause.

"Liquorice wand?" Teddy offered.

"Yeah sure," I took a strawberry one. "Thanks,"

"All good," Teddy wandered off and I was left on my own again. Dammit.

I loitered for a moment, and then decided I may as well go and try to find Lil, Holz and Jose. I'd probably end up wandering the length of the train, but that was fine. I could live with that. I put down my bottle and started to slide my way around the edge of the

compartment.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Thad?" I turned. I was almost at the door. Thad was standing a little to my right, head on one side.

"You only just got here!"

"Yeah...I was gonna go look for my friends..."

"Nah," he shrugged and swigged from his bottle. "Stay here, make some new friends,"

A new song came on. It was one of my all time Favorited.

"I love this song," I couldn't stop the words. Oops. Blabbermouth syndrome again.

"Me too," Thad beamed. "Hey, wanna dance?"

"Okay..." Thad put his down his bottle and grabbed my hand. Trying the tingly feeling that sprung to being in my tummy, I let him pull me into the middle of the 'dance floor'. It seemed this was a lot of people favourite songs. Everyone was dancing.

As far as dancing goes, I can usually only join in with the 'jump up and down and fist pump' kind, but this was something different. Everyone was...actually dancing.

"Oh God, I can't dance," I said as Thad navigated the people.

"That's cool. We can be different. We should do interpretive dancing instead."

"Seriously?" I almost stopped walking. I raised my eyebrows.

"Yup," Thad dropped my hand and, true to his word, started interpretive dancing. He waved his arms around and jumped from side to side and I thought 'what the hell'.

I made a conscious decision, in that moment, to just not give a shit what people thought of me for a few hours and just dance.

People around us started copying, and soon we had an interpretive dance fest going on. It was the most fun I'd had in a long time.

Eventually, however, it started to get dark and the party broke up. Destiny and I walked back to our compartment to change into our robes.

We got there before Amortentia. Anna, Trent and Crystal were already changed.

"Fun?" Crystal asked.

"It was sufficiently awesome," Destiny said, and I smiled slightly to show my agreement.


End file.
